Use of social media as a news source and news literacy awareness of Çankırı Karatekin University Department of Information and Records Management students

In today's world, social media, which has become one of the basic communication tools today, has become one of the main news sources, especially for the young generation, by allowing information to be spread quickly and easily. In addition to this advantage, these platforms also facilitate uncontrolled information sharing, which paves the way for the rapid spread of fake news. The skills that individuals must have in order to fight against fake news and raise awareness are expressed by the concept of news literacy. The aim of the study is to examine the attitudes of undergraduate and graduate students of Çankırı Karatekin University Information and Document Management department in using social media as a news source and to reveal the necessity of news literacy education and the importance of addressing social media as a news source within the scope of this education. The ultimate goal is to reveal that social media and news literacy should be included more in Information and Document Management departman training programs to contribute to the training of information professionals who combat fake news and information pollution. Within the scope of the study, documentary scanning management was used to provide theoretical information about social media and news literacy, survey technique was used to obtain the data and description method was used to evaluate the data. Data obtained from 154 students, including 113 undergraduate and 41 graduate students, were analyzed using the SPSS program. The results of the study reveal the similarities and differences between undergraduate and graduate students' social media use and news literacy. Findings show that both groups use social media intensively, face challenges with fake news spread on social media, and emphasize the necessity of news literacy education. At the end of the study, various recommendations have been provided regarding the more effective utilization of social media as a news source and news literacy education. Especially, it is recommended that these topics should be given more emphasis in the curriculum of Information and Document Management Department.